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Seroma for 3 Weeks - Should a Drain Be Reinserted?

asked 1 year ago by pumpkin258 in Vista, CA
Latest answer by Otto Joseph Placik, MD
Question viewed 727 times
Tags: drainage, seroma

I've had a seroma for 3 weeks and counting post-tummy tuck. PS does not want to reinsert drains. Each time he aspirates around 20-25 cc and he is doing this daily except on the weekends. Should I ask him to put in the drains? Each time he aspirates it hurts EXTREMELY bad even with the lidocaine and I don't know how much more I can take. I sleep with a 5lb bag of sugar on my tummy as recommended by my PS.

4 answers to Seroma for 3 Weeks - Should a Drain Be Reinserted?

+3

Persistent Fluid Collection 3 weeks after Tummy Tuck

Fluid Collection (seroma) after a Tummy Tuck is not a rare event and all experienced Plastic surgeons have dealt with them. I am sure that you will get a lot of slightly different advice on how to best manage them. The conditions of the walls around a fluid collection dictate the ease with which it will go away. If the walls are raw, as seem with a freshly operated wound, as long as the fluid is not allowed to accumulate, the walls are touching each other and more apt to stick... more
Peter A. Aldea, MD

Memphis Plastic Surgeon
+1

Insert drain under ultrasound guidance for tummy tuck seroma.

Hi. Sooner or later you will get an infection or a chronic seroma cavity.  Every surgeon does things a little differently, but after  tummy tuck in New York City, we send a patient like you to an interventional radiologist, who inserts a seroma drain under ultrasound guidance.  Very safe.
George J. Beraka, MD

Manhattan Plastic Surgeon
+1

You may need drains

This is a common problem after tummy tuck and your surgeon has tried the aspiration. I would suggest the drain since the aspiration is not getting less. The other treatment is wearing tight girdle and using lasix.
Kamran Khoobehi, MD

New Orleans Plastic Surgeon
+1

Treatment of seroma following tummy tuck

Drains do not always prevent or satisfactorily treat seromas. I, like your surgeon, prefer repeated aspirations.
Otto Joseph Placik, MD

Chicago Plastic Surgeon

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